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Post by Rogobob77 on Oct 27, 2022 20:38:09 GMT -5
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Post by motorcitysam on Oct 28, 2022 7:19:52 GMT -5
Good start for Emoni, and balanced scoring for the team. Good to see Legend out there playing, as there were some concerns about his health. Interesting to read that Bates was also driving without a valid license, which goes to show the bad judgment went beyond "borrowing a car without knowing what was in it", which was the narrative his lawyer pushed. Even without Bates, this is shaping up to be a potentially good year for EMU.
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Post by Rogobob77 on Nov 4, 2022 17:29:05 GMT -5
Eastern Michigan found its way onto Michigan’s schedule, at Little Caesar’s Arena. That's disappointing. The Michigan game at Little Caesar's should be OUR game. Opportunity lost. Men’s college basketball returns to Little Caesars Arena with Michigan taking on Eastern Michigan on Friday, November 11. The matchup will be the 23rd men’s college basketball game hosted at Little Caesars Arena since the state-of-the-art arena opened in September 2017. The last college hoops game at Little Caesars Arena was between Michigan State and Oakland on December 21, 2021, with the Spartans earning a 90-78 victory in front of 16,837 fans. Michigan last played at Little Caesars Arena in the arena’s inaugural college basketball game on December 16, 2017, defeating Detroit Mercy, 90-58. This will be Eastern Michigan’s first visit to Little Caesars Arena. Looks like tickets are in the $15 to $45 range, but I’ve seen various promotional offers that might cut the cost a bit.
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Post by motorcitysam on Nov 26, 2022 17:52:53 GMT -5
So, serious question: What is wrong with Eastern Michigan University's basketball team.
The program was getting a lot of buzz a couple of months ago, and rightly so. Emoni Bates has signed with EMU after leaving Memphis, and there were several other transfers coming in to join leading scorer Noah Farrakhan and the rest of the EMU returning cast. But today the program sits at 1-5, alone in last place in the MAC.
The best EMU has looked so far this season was in the loss to Michigan, 88-83. Bates had 30 and Farrakhan had 19, and the Eagles played just enough defense to keep things it close. Looked like better times were ahead, but they sit here on November 26 without a D1 win. It wasn't shock when they lost to a pretty good Bradley team; Bradley was favored by 6.5. But EMU got blown out by 28, which no one saw coming. Then came a bad loss to Oakland in a game they blew, a neutral court loss to Purdue Fort Wayne, and a head scratching blow out loss to Winthrop.
One thing I have noticed is the difference in Emoni's play since the Michigan game. Against the Wolverines, he hit 12 of 19 from the floor, and only six of those shots were three pointers. He was aggressive, but didn't force things. He scored going to the hole and in the mid range. It looked like he was a much more efficient player. Since then, the Emoni of last year has returned. Over half of his shots have come from three point range, and his scoring has gone down each game from 30 to 20, 19, 16, and 15. He's been passive on the court and settling for outside shots when his 6-10 height and skill set should make him almost impossible to guard for mid major competition. He also only has five assists total on the season.
It's not all on Emoni, though. Noah has been inconsistent and is turning the ball over a lot. Tyson Acuff is struggling shooting the ball, and I am sure the staff expected more about of big men Geeter and Billingsly. Coach Heath appears to be trying to figure out the best way to fit all the pieces together. Remember, Bates signed late and missed practice time after his arrest.
I wouldn't panic. It's a long season, and the Eagles are basically only 1/6 of the way through it. Lots of time left. But you don't get back those winnable games that you drop early in the season. EMU has been off since Wednesday and play UC San Diego tomorrow at the George Gervin Center. It's a chance to start getting right if they get the win.
I've been an EMU fan since the days Marlow McClain was running the point and former University of Detroit Titan forward Jim Boyce was the coach. Go Eastern!
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Post by fan on Nov 27, 2022 9:20:15 GMT -5
I think there are too many new pieces, basketball is a team game, and it takes time to build a team. EMU is a prime example of the proliferation of transfers. UDM could be seen as an example of the difficulties coaches and teams have trying to mesh, new players, every year. Some JC coaches have figured it out and have consistently good teams every year. Maybe D1's should have former JC coaches on their staff I don't know. But EMU is a good case study of what could go wrong. If EMU continues to play at its current level, Bates could be gone, he could conceive playing on a poor team will harm his future basketball career goals.
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Post by Commissioner on Nov 27, 2022 13:19:01 GMT -5
It's early, but right now we're seeing, for the second time in two years, a top 10 (top 5?) national recruit failing to dominate or even make much difference at the mid-major level. Unlike Patrick Baldwin, Bates has a year of college ball, but he's not one of these guys who transferred down because he simply got beaten out by others at the high major level. Like Baldwin a year ago, his individual stats aren't that bad--he's still averaging 20 points--but it's obvious that he's neither dominating nor really improving the overall quality of the team. Baldwin was eventually slowed by injuries, but even before then he didn't have the impact most suspected a top 5 player would have at the mid-major level.
Not sure what this shows. It's early, and EMU may rip off 15 straight wins. But I suspect there are a few lessons: 1. The talent level really isn't all that different between high and mid-majors. Any one player, it hardly matters. But you multiply slight differences for each of the top 7 players on a team, and it adds up to a lot, plus add in the advantage high majors get of almost always playing mid-majors at home. 2. Don't expect transfers from high majors to dominate at the mid-major level. We see this time and again. If Baldwin and Bates aren't dominant, there's no reason to think that, say, Rocket Watts or Lorne Bowman will dominate. 3. The key seems to be getting players into a position and role where they can succeed, e.g. Jaden Stone, Bul Kuol; and, of course 4. It does take time to mesh a team of transfers. I think that's a major reason our Titans' defense has been so poor.
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Post by upbasketballfan on Nov 28, 2022 4:27:20 GMT -5
It's early, but right now we're seeing, for the second time in two years, a top 10 (top 5?) national recruit failing to dominate or even make much difference at the mid-major level. Unlike Patrick Baldwin, Bates has a year of college ball, but he's not one of these guys who transferred down because he simply got beaten out by others at the high major level. Like Baldwin a year ago, his individual stats aren't that bad--he's still averaging 20 points--but it's obvious that he's neither dominating nor really improving the overall quality of the team. Baldwin was eventually slowed by injuries, but even before then he didn't have the impact most suspected a top 5 player would have at the mid-major level. Not sure what this shows. It's early, and EMU may rip off 15 straight wins. But I suspect there are a few lessons: 1. The talent level really isn't all that different between high and mid-majors. Any one player, it hardly matters. But you multiply slight differences for each of the top 7 players on a team, and it adds up to a lot, plus add in the advantage high majors get of almost always playing mid-majors at home. 2. Don't expect transfers from high majors to dominate at the mid-major level. We see this time and again. If Baldwin and Bates aren't dominant, there's no reason to think that, say, Rocket Watts or Lorne Bowman will dominate. 3. The key seems to be getting players into a position and role where they can succeed, e.g. Jaden Stone, Bul Kuol; and, of course 4. It does take time to mesh a team of transfers. I think that's a major reason our Titans' defense has been so poor. I think Emoni Bates brings a ton of baggage with him. The composition and chemistry of a team in the locker room is almost as important as the team on the floor. I was watching Easterns game vs UC San Diego and felt the team was better without Bates. When a final time out was called and Heath huddled his team Bates walked away and had to be brought back by an assistant. Seems like this team knows if they give the ball up it’s not coming back. A lot of shots jacked up in the first 8-10 seconds of possession by whoever has ball as they cross center court. Last year Heath had control of this team this year I’m not so sure.
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Post by motorcitysam on Dec 1, 2022 11:10:37 GMT -5
Eastern picked up a big win yesterday, defeating Florida International on the road. FIU was a 7.5 point favorite, and the Eagles came back from an 11 point deficit to win by a score of 80-68. EMU closed the game on a 21-7 run.
Bates had a solid game, scoring 26 points. He was 8-17 from the floor. He was only 3-10 from three, but did grab eight rebounds. Noah Farrakhan got his shooting on track, going 11-18, but also turned it over SIX times. Tyson Acuff stuffed the stat sheet with 13 points, 6 boards, 4 steals, 4 assists, and a block. He also had only one turnover in 37 minutes.
FIU helped the Eagle cause by going 11-24 from the free throw line and 1-15 from three.
A familiar foe, Florida Atlantic, is up next for our friends from Ypsilanti. We'll see if this game was an aberration or a sign of things to come.
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Post by motorcitysam on Jan 4, 2023 19:04:29 GMT -5
EMU continues to struggle, and the 91-65 loss to Bowling Green has really got the critics going on social media. After the victory over Detroit and a pretty good showing at South Carolina, fans were looking for a good start to conference play. Unfortunately for the Eagles, the game was decided early and the result was a blowout loss at home.
When EMU signed Bates, I believed that the situation could go one of two ways. One, all the new players EMU brought in would mesh together and Emoni would come in focused and team oriented. Or, two, the players would not mesh together and Emoni's focus would remain on getting to the NBA, where it has been since before he hit high school. Looks like option #2 is winning out so far.
Eastern's main issue appears to be defense. They are right at the bottom in scoring defense, giving up 81 points per game, good for 357th in the country. They are in the middle of the pack offensively, but are a poor outside shooting team; both starting guards, Acuff and Farrakhan, are under 30% from distance. Part of that could be due to the lack of cohesion on offense; Farrakhan was over 40% from three last season and Acuff was right at 39%.
On their worst offensive possessions, the ball pretty much stays in Emoni's hands, he brings it up, waits for a screen and then takes a three or drives to the basket and shoots a pull up jumper. It's mostly threes, as over half of his shots have come from the long line. Geeter and Billingsly have both played below expectations, although it could just be that expectations were too high for both. You would think two guys from Providence and Georgetown would be more effective against the mid majors that EMU has played, but they have both struggled for much of the season. Of course, they are a sophomore and a redshirt freshman; I still think they will improve and be contributors. And in their defense, they aren't exactly getting many scoring opportunities.
Acuff has been solid, doubling his scoring from his Duquesne days and playing a solid floor game while also hitting 80% of his free throws. Orlando Lovejoy is having a solid freshman season, playing 20 minutes per game and putting up five points and less than one turnover per game. He is also playing very good defense, per observers.
Fans are blaming Bates for being too selfish, or Heath for not being able to put the parts into a functioning system, or the other players for being a bunch of bums, or all of the above. It's a mess right now. There are already people calling for Heath to be fired, which I think would be a mistake.
As Fan mentioned in an earlier post, there are a lot of new pieces that Coach Heath is trying to mold together. And probably a lot of agendas among the incoming transfers, some of which might not focus on team success.
Still time to make a run, but there aren't any signs of a big improvement.
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Post by fan on Jan 5, 2023 13:34:49 GMT -5
MC, Good piece, it may be old-school thinking but basketball is a team game, it takes time for teams to come together. Strange as it seems it takes time for players to like each other or like playing with each other.
This EMU team wont come together, a bunch of these new players came to EMU not for the glory of EMU, but for their own agenda. Heath put together a team with good players, who may be uncoachable.
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Post by motorcitysam on Jan 7, 2023 14:43:25 GMT -5
At this moment, EMU has played 15 minutes of basketball against Central Michigan. EMU has recorded 0 assists.
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Post by motorcitysam on Jan 7, 2023 17:17:41 GMT -5
At this moment, EMU has played 15 minutes of basketball against Central Michigan. EMU has recorded 0 assists. Finished the game with 3 total assists, but also got the win. Go figure.
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Post by Rogobob77 on Jan 7, 2023 21:36:51 GMT -5
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Post by Commissioner on Jan 7, 2023 22:09:02 GMT -5
EMU won despite also shooting just 3-22 of three.
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Post by upbasketballfan on Jan 8, 2023 0:23:51 GMT -5
During two separate time out I watched Bates walk away while Heath was still talking to the team.
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